Email Author Dennis Romero

Awards

• 2011 - Southern California Journalism Awards/LA Press Club, published December 30, 2010

  "Death, Money and Megaraves"

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2009 Stories by Dennis Romero

• Krekorian Wins L.A. Council Race

  published Dec 09, 2009

  State Assemblyman Paul Krekorian beat former Hollywood studio executive Christine Essel in Tuesday's election to fill the city's Council District 2 seat. With 19,170 votes cast, Krekorian took 56 per... More >>

• Survey: Ex-L.A. Times Staffers Expect Paper To Fold

  published Dec 08, 2009

  More than half of a small (and decidedly scientifically invalid) number of ex-Los Angeles Times editorial staffers recently surveyed believe the storied paper will eventually close, according to a rep... More >>

• Chain Of Fashion Stores Lets Customers Tweet For All To See (Are They Asking For Troubler)

  published Dec 08, 2009

  In what could be seen as visionary or monumental blindness, a Los Angeles-based fashion retailer is putting tweets about its brand up for all to see via LCD televisions in its 68 stores nationwide. M... More >>

• Council Moves Closer To Closing Most Pot Shops

  published Dec 08, 2009

  The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday was one step closer to closing a vast majority of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city by capping the number of allowed pot shops at 137 -- the number of ... More >>

• TV Newsman Goes Off On Perez Hilton

  published Dec 08, 2009

  Sam Rubin, the resident entertainment reporter at KTLA News in Los Angeles, went off on gossip blogger Perez Hilton Tuesday after the online celebrity walked off the set Monday without fulfilling an a... More >>

• Teachers Demonstrate As L.A. District Considers Dropping 1,400 Of Them

  published Dec 08, 2009

  Teachers were demonstrating outside Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters downtown Tuesday as its board was expected to vote on a budget that could layoff as many 5,000 employees, including... More >>

• Police: Woman Hired Undercover Cop To Kidnap Boy

  published Dec 08, 2009

  Police arrested a 43-year-old woman in what they say was a plot to hire a private investigator, who turned out to be an undercover officer, to kidnap her 7-year-old son from his foster parents. Newpo... More >>

• Huge AIDS Breakthrough From UCLA Announced (Application, Though, Still Likely Far Off)

  published Dec 08, 2009

  UCLA researchers this week published data that for the first time shows human blood stem cells can be engineered to attack HIV-infected cells and that the process could not only prove to be a breakthr... More >>

• Council Considering Law That Would Shut Down Most Pot Shops

  published Dec 08, 2009

  The City Council on Tuesday was taking a look at a proposed law that would essentially shut down most of the medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. A provision that would limit a pot shop to s... More >>

• LAPD Official Backs Off Linking Synagogue Shooting To Organized Crime

  published Dec 08, 2009

  Los Angeles Police Deputy Chief backed away from comments published in an Israeli newspaper last week indicating that be believed the North Hollywood synagogue shooting Oct. 30 was "a stern warning li... More >>

• Villaraigosa Tours Like A Rock Star

  published Dec 08, 2009

  If you were surprised to read that City Hall has once again put off the issue of whether to ask the owners of Staples Center to reimburse taxpayers for its Michael Jackson memorial show, or if you're ... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  $700K "Gray Market" Moroder-Mobile Seized By U.S. Customs

  published Dec 07, 2009

  Ah, the irreverence and pomposity of the rich and taste-challenged knows no bounds, even in these tough economic times. Take the case of this rare, 1994 Cizeta V16 douche-mobile which U.S. Immigration... More >>

• LAPD In Financial Straights, Cuts New Recruits

  published Dec 07, 2009

  The Los Angeles Police Department is facing an $80 million deficit and seems poised to cancel its January class of academy recruits. If the City Council's public safety and personnel committees confir... More >>

• Suit To Stop Construction At Site Of L.A.'s Birthplace Rejected

  published Dec 07, 2009

  A nonprofit group's legal attempt to stop the city's construction of a war memorial at the site of L.A.'s birthplace, El Pueblo de Los Angeles, was rejected by a Superior Court judge Monday, according... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  LAX Gets $150 Million Taxpayer Dollars For ... Improved Baggage Screening

  published Dec 07, 2009

  The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has secured $150 million in taxpayer dollars to speed up baggage screening at LAX, officials announced Mond... More >>

• 

  FEATURED STORY

  Council Committees Pass Buck To City Attorney Regarding Jackon Memorial Bill (UPDATED)

  published Dec 07, 2009

  [UPDATED] City leadership has been bold when it comes to pressing issues like cat declawing, so it's no surprise that two Los Angeles City Council committees on Monday took up the issue of who should ... More >>

• Lesbian Ascends As Top Leader Of L.A. Episcopalian Church (And The Archbishop Isn't Too Happy)

  published Dec 07, 2009

  The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles over the weekend elected openly gay Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool as its assistant bishop, a move that has raised the eyebrows of the church's spiritual leader, the Ar... More >>

• Los Angeles Council District 2 Race Attracts Millions In Contributions

  published Dec 07, 2009

  You might not know it but there's a momentous battle for a City Council seat going down this week, and it's attracting some big money and powerful interests. Former Hollywood studio executive Christin... More >>

• Report: Villaraigosa Held Back-Room Confab For Assembly Speaker Job Over Bottle Of Wine

  published Dec 07, 2009

  It's been years since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa worked as a Sacramento power player, but that hasn't stopped him from throwing his weight around in statehouse politics. The Los Angeles Times on Monda... More >>

• City-Touted, $4 Million Benefit From Jackson Memorial Pulled From Thin Air

  published Dec 07, 2009

  Read Dennis Romero's updates from Monday's City Council committee meetings.LA Weekly obtained a series of emails that shed light on City Hall's oft-touted contention that July's Michael Jackson memori... More >>

• Gang Members Get Booked For Facebooking

  published Dec 07, 2009

  It's something we reported on a few years ago: Gang members are using social networking sites to represent their neighborhoods, show pride in their sets and display their muscles, weapons and bravado.... More >>

• Surveillance Cams Help Cops Capture Drunk Man Walking (Then Driving), They Say

  published Dec 04, 2009

  This is an LA Weekly public service announcement: If you're too drunk to walk, you're too drunk to drive. And take heed this holiday season as you paw that last snifter to keep you warm on your way ho... More >>

• Associate of Bush, Villaraigosa Pleads Guilty In Kickback Scheme (Felony Charge Of Helping To Make Crap Movie Pending)

  published Dec 04, 2009

  Holmby Hills' Elliott Broidy has been called "the mystery man of the Israeli economy," but he's had more friends than Tila Tequila, including President George W. Bush (whom he's hosted at his Westside... More >>

• War-Hero Poseur Pleads Guilty (No Word On Whether He'll Be Charged For Fashion Crimes)

  published Dec 04, 2009

  It looks like the strange saga of a Southern California man accused by the U.S. Attorney of posing as a war hero -- uniform, Purple Heart, the whole get-up -- is coming to an end: Authorities on Frida... More >>

• Buy A Piece Of Local Royalty At Hotel Bel-Air Sale

  published Dec 04, 2009

  If filling your abode with cootie-covered furnishings and tableware from a hotel sounds as unsavory to you as it does to us, hold that thought: Goods from the Hotel Bel-Air are up for sale, and the co... More >>